The important thing now, regardless of anything else, was that if she wanted him to carry her, being a stranger, she at least had to ask.
"Hmph, ask? Do you think this great me, who has ancestral draconic blood in my veins, will make a request and—"
"I'm going to throw you."
"..., n-no need. This great self with ancestral draconic lineage asks you to carry me... ~I have expended a lot of internal energy with the previous attack."
"Please."
"...don't tempt your luck—ah! Wait!, don't throw me, I'll tell you!...you can carry me... ~please."
When Cassian saw that the woman was being unreasonable, he began to shake his shoulders with the intention of getting her off him, but she prevented this by grabbing his head.
Realizing that Cassian was serious, she finally gave in and asked him nicely, as Cassian had hoped.
"Fine, you see, it's not that difficult."
"Hmph, after all, you received the gratitude of this one who carries the gene of the ancestral draconic lineage—"
"By the way, do you have to emphasize your lineage or whatever every time you speak?"
"Of course. I am the one who carries the ancestral draconic lineage and—"
"Come on, it sounds very repetitive, and it makes it unnecessarily long. You could be more precise."
"Eh, why should I? This is my—"
"If you don't, I'll throw you out."
"Why!? What's wrong with it!? You're going too far."
"No, well, it's just that the way you talk brings back bad memories. It really makes my hair stand on end to listen to you. Hey, don't you have trouble making friends because you talk like that?"
"What does that matter to you?!"
"Wait, calm down, I'm speaking from experience, talking like that makes—hey, don't stick your fingers in my nose, your nails are long. I'll really throw you."
"Hmph, you keep pushing your luck. Just because I needed you a little... take this lady's punishment."
"Yagh! I understand, I'll stop. You're already talking more normally."
"Hmph, I didn't do it because you asked. I do what I want and talk how I want. Now I'm only doing it because I wanted to, and my lineage is obvious, hmph! ... Don't talk to me anymore. Keep running."
"okey."
"Oh, are you done flirting? I'd really complain about you leaving the little angel and me with all the work if it weren't for the fact that you're carrying us. You're not tired, are you?"
"No."
"So you also have good endurance, in addition to strength, to carry the three of us as if it were nothing. Hmph, you're quite the high-level Casanova—it's not even been an hour and you already have three women all over you."
"Jee!~."
Oh, that was a good joke.
Cassian chuckled at Naelune's words, which he found amusing because of her play on words, not to mention that she called him Casanova, a word far removed from him.
Rather, until now, he was satisfied that they hadn't run away from him, so he didn't take her words seriously, other than as a joke.
"Focus, they're going to come out of the ceiling."
"Tsk, little angel, I'm a mage. Doing more than one thing at a time is a piece of cake."
This time, seven spiders came out of the ceiling, but as Naelune said, she had already conjured up balls of water that headed toward the spiders. Unfortunately, as if to refute Neleune's confident attitude, one spider dodged and escaped...
Bang!!
"Hey Luna, you dropped a piece of cake!"
"Ah! Well, that was my mistake, but in my defense, there were a lot of them."
They quickly reached the spider, leaving Cassian no choice but to kick it out of the way with a strong kick, all without slowing down at any point.
"Well, that's reasonable. Just try to concentrate more and listen to Lys."
"Yes."
Cassian thought it made sense, and well, Naelune was doing fine, so there was no real problem.
"Um... Sir Cassian, are you really okay with this? Doesn't it bother you to carry three people? Would you like me to help by holding Miss Ellys?"
"Well, I don't think it's necessary, they don't weigh much. Especially Lys. I have to squeeze her a little from time to time, or I think I'll drop her."
"...." (≧ ﹏ ≦)🪽
"Hey! Are you calling me fat? There can't be that much difference between the little angel and me. In fact, with those wings and everything, she should weigh more."
"That's not why. You make too much noise, and besides, I'm holding you tightly as you asked me to."
"Oh! Well, if that's the case, I forgive you.
"Ahem! In any case, if you say so, Sir Cassian, I won't insist. Still... I can't help but say it—you truly are admirable. Not just for carrying them so easily, but for staying calm in such a dangerous situation. You don't seem to hesitate or waver. Honestly, it's very reassuring to have someone so composed nearby."
"Hmm, really? I notice that everyone else is very calm too, well except for Yefeng, who seems to be running for their lives... Hey, Yefng, are you okay? If you want, I can make some room and carry your sister... and you too."
"N-no, huff~...it's my duty... haahh~, but... thank you..."
"Well, if you say so."
"I also believe that Cazzy—oh, look! There's a light ahead!"
Just then, Naelune warned, drawing everyone's attention back to their surroundings.
And indeed, at the end of the dark corridor there was a golden light reminiscent of sunlight, very different from golden moss or blue crystals.
This made everyone unconsciously quicken their pace, wanting to reach it, thinking it was the way out of this dangerous situation.
..
When they emerged from the tunnel, they found themselves in a gigantic room. Unfortunately for the group, when they saw the ceiling, they realized they were still underground.
"...."
Cassian, with his keen eyesight, quickly scanned the surroundings and understood more or less what was happening and where the glow was coming from.
It was a room covered in gold and other shiny objects. On the ceiling was a crystal that emitted white light.
And with so many reflective surfaces, the brightness intensified, giving them the false illusion that it was the outside.
"..."
He looked around for a way to continue his escape, but there was none. It was basically a dead end, unless there was a hidden route under the gold.
Even so, he kept running. There was a clear path between the mountains of gold; such a path, though it didn't seem to lead anywhere either.
"Lys—"
Kieek!! Kriiieh!Skritch-skritch!
Just as Cassian was about to ask Lys to use her skill in case she saw anything, he heard something strange coming from behind him.
When she turned around, she realized that the horde of arachnids, as she had thought, began to emerge like a crazed beehive and seemed to flood the room, but...
"They stopped."
But, apparently, the spiders had slowed down their momentum that seemed like a golden black tide, at that moment they only began to let out a few menacing screeches... to finally retreat back to the corridor.
Cassian realized that he didn't have to keep running.
"Sir Cassian!!? Why are you staying behind? Ah! They stopped."
Valeriane, who was also focused on analyzing her surroundings, noticed too late that Cassian had stopped, and when she looked back, she realized why.
..
.
"Haaah... haaah... haahaa~"
"Tsk, what a weakling. It was just a little jog."
Finally, everything seemed to have calmed down, resulting in Yefeng lying on the ground, gasping for air, which Naelune commented.
"~You scoundrel. You didn't run."
"Hey, little angel, I heard that! So you like to whisper behind people's backs, huh! Besides, you didn't do it either!"
"…" (¬_¬ )🪽
"You know, even though you have bandages, for some reason I know you're looking away... it's fun-."
RUMBLE! , RUMBLE! .
"Ugh, another tremor... I'm going to develop seismophobia."
Cassian also thought that everything had calmed down and, in fact, without forgetting this time, he was going to put Naelune and Ellys on the ground, as well as ask the dragon lady to get off him.
But another tremor began, and Cassian was on alert again, although honestly he was tired of so many tremors in a single day.
What happened next was similar to before: the door through which they had entered closed.
And from the back of the room, a large door began to emerge, which, when opened, revealed the ten fruits that had been shown before. That, obviously, seemed to be their next objective and the end of the aforementioned test.
"Wait, let's not get ahead of ourselves."
Valeriane was the first to speak, and in fact, it seemed too simple. Obviously, the room was not ordinary.
Although the path led directly to the door, the gold and other things around it were too suspicious to ignore.
"Haaah~... uff... it's true... there's something dangerous there. I don't know what it is, but everything feels dangerous, very dangerous, because I'm only feeling it now?. Haaah~ no... don't go near anything around here..."
Those were the words of Yefeng, who was catching his breath. But curiously, Cassian didn't feel anything strange.
He didn't perceive any danger or threat between them and the fruits. It seemed relatively safe.
But then again, he didn't have a skill like Yèfēng's, so he didn't know what the problem was.
He looked carefully at his surroundings, not understanding what was wrong. Apart from the large amount of gold and other shiny objects, there was nothing strange to be seen...
Until his gaze fell on a mountain of gold that had many chests with different designs and qualities, all of which seemed to contain valuable things.
But the higher up they were, the more sophisticated they became, until finally, at the top, there was a larger, very detailed chest that screamed there was something valuable inside. Cassian couldn't help but wonder what was inside that one—and the others as well
"!!!"
And at that moment, he felt that something bad would happen if he opened them. It seemed that Yefeng was right.
"Oh, wait... what is that I see? It looks like the ancient draconic legacy: 'The Ode of a Thousand Dragons flute!' A lost heirloom...! What is it doing here...?"
At that moment, Cassian remembered again that he had crew members on top of him... and the one on his shoulders suddenly jumped off and started running toward a flute made of jade—also with a draconic design oriental—on a small hill of gold, not far from there.
"S-stop her..."